Tar Heels face quick turnaround

CHAPEL HILL — As a lifelong fan of North Carolina basketball, Marcus Paige is more than aware of the top-flight point guards who have led the Tar Heels during the last 15 years.

He can rattle them off chronologically with ease, from Ed Cota to Raymond Felton to Ty Lawson to Kendall Marshall.

Whether Paige can become the next in that distinguished line is a matter that’s in its infancy.

So coach Roy Williams and assistant coach Steve Robinson have reminded the freshman to stay patient with the process of understanding North Carolina’s system.

“They’ve let me know that there’s going to be a learning period and a time of adjustment,” Paige said. “But we want to make things as short as possible so I can hopefully run the offense more efficiently and get this team going.”

Paige’s first college start in the Tar Heels’ 76-59 victory against Gardner-Webb two nights ago provided a mixture of special and teachable moments.

He said it was “surreal” to hear his name announced during starting lineup introductions at the Smith Center.

As for his performance in the game, the 6-foot lefty contributed six points (on 3 of 9 shooting from the field), three rebounds and two steals. He air-balled his first shot, a baseline floater that was too strong.

Two of Paige’s other statistical categories commanded the most attention.

Assists: zero.

Turnovers: four.

“It’s not good, obviously,” he said. “I’m a point guard and I wasn’t very happy with that.

“Part of that was our offense. As a team we had too many turnovers (18), so it wasn’t just me. But I definitely want to be able to get guys easy shots a little bit more than I did.”

Williams pointed to Gardner-Webb’s zone defense in Friday night’s second half as a factor in some North Carolina lapses and also noted several sequences when Paige fed a teammate who either got fouled or missed on a favorable look.

“Marcus made some mistakes, but I thought he was in charge out there,” Tar Heels coach said. “I think he learned some things.”

Tip-off

Who:Florida Atlantic (0-0) at No. 11 North Carolina (1-0)

When:2:30 p.m. today (ESPNU)

Where:Smith Center, Chapel Hill

Tip-in:This game is part of the Maui Invitational. Regardless of today’s result, North Carolina (an island team) moves on to play in Hawaii starting Nov. 19 while Florida Atlantic (a mainland team) will play in a two-day event next weekend at Elon University.